Mudashiru Obasa, the embattled Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has expressed appreciation to Mojisola Meranda, his deputy, for her loyalty.
Meranda, who had been elevated to the speaker’s position after Obasa was removed resigned on Monday to allow the former speaker to reclaim his seat.
Speaking during plenary, Obasa also appreciated the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bisi Akande, and Olusegun Osoba, former governors of Osun and Ogun states, respectively as well as the leaders of the Governance Advisory Council, GAC, for making his return as Speaker possible.
Obasa had been removed in January by a majority of the Assembly lawmakers for alleged misappropriation and Meranda was sworn in as his replacement.However, he never accepted his removal, insisting that the procedure was faulty and forced his way into the Speaker’s office last month, declaring himself Speaker.
However, in a meeting outside the complex with Meranda and other lawmakers, Meranda stepped down and reverted to her deputy speaker position, paving way for Obasa’s return.
“I want to start by appreciating my colleagues and thank you for your support, dedication, loyalty, staunch believe in our party, and utmost respect for our party leaders,” Obasa said at plenary.“Let me single out my sister, the deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda who has been supportive and loyal as deputy Speaker, I thank you ma.
“Let me recognize our party chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi; our Attorney General, Pedro we thank you for being in our mist today.
“I’m very sure that Lagosians will like to hear more from me but today is not a day for speech making but to appreciate my colleagues and all our leaders who have pit a lot to this gathering today.
“I recognise our national leader, Bisi Akande, his counterpart from Ogun State, Osoba; all our GAC leaders we thank them; our governor and his deputy from Lagos State, we thank you.
“What is happening here today shows that Lagos State House of Assembly is very capable, a matured house that has internal mechanisms to resolve issues in the interest of the institution and our party.”
